CIA’s “Bin Laden” Unit Leader: “Only Ron Paul understood what was going on”
This was my first time ever listening to Bill O’Reilly’s Radio Factor and I was SHOCKED. I’d never heard of Michael Smerconish but this was a great interview. Listen for yourself. This is just a clip of a broadcast that aired February 15, 1008 -
Michael Scheuer served in the CIA for 22 years before resigning in 2004; he served as the chief of the Bin Laden Unit at the Counter-terrorist Center from 1996 to 1999.
His new book is titled Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq.
More on Michael Scheuer:
Bestselling author Michael Scheuer is the former head of the CIA’s Bin Laden Unit and has two decades of experience in national security issues related to Afghanistan and South Asia. After resigning from the agency in November 2004, he revealed his authorship of Imperial Hubris (Brassey’s, Inc., 2004) and Through Our Enemies’ Eyes both originally published under the byline “Anonymous.” Scheuer has been featured extensively on television, including 60 Minutes, and has been the focus of print media worldwide.
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White House caught violating anti-propaganda laws, provided ’talking points’ to Fox News
Blue Tidalwave
July 29, 2008
Last week former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and said the White House distributed “talking points” to friendly Fox journalists.
McClellan’s confirmation of an operation inside the White House of providing comprehensive talking points to Fox News and other Conservative talk show personalities to manipulate the media and control the message regarding the Iraq War and the “war on terror” is a violation of anti-propaganda laws. By law the government sources must be disclosed by the reporting news outlets.
Yesterday a report prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector general and its internal ethics office found that a few aides to Alberto Gonzales and White House officials were actively involved in hiring decisions for non political positions at the DOJ. Being a loyal Republican was the main criteria for being hired, not education or experience.
Olbermann admits White House gave him talking points in 2004
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The day after a video emerged of a cop knocking a cyclist to the ground, a second video alleging police brutality surfaced today in which an NYPD officer is seen whaling away at a man’s legs with a baton.
The footage - shot on July 4 on the Lower East Side - shows Officer Maurice Harrington repeatedly hitting Michael Cephus, 46, on his legs with a collapsible metal baton as he struggles with officers trying to cuff him.
Harrington - a four-year veteran working out of the 52nd Precinct in The Bronx - had his badge and gun taken away and was placed on modified duty when the tape was turned over to the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
The video does not show how the confrontation began. According to the criminal complaint, Harrington and fellow Officer Joel Medina said they encountered Cephus - who they thought was drunk - around 8 p.m. on Delancey Street under the Williamsburg Bridge.
When they stopped him from entering a nearby park, they said he swung an umbrella at them and struck both officers “with closed fists about the body.”
Cephus says he wasn’t drinking that day and denies having gotten physical with the officers.
“I was with some friends at a cookout,” he said. “I stepped out of the park to get some ice. The officers told me I couldn’t return because they said I had alcohol. I told them it was only ice.
“They thought I was drunk and they just came at me. They started swinging and hitting me with the batons.”
Cephus was charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing and resisting arrest.
His attorney, Adam Orlow, said that even if his client did what he is accused of, Harrington used “excessive force.”
“Let me be clear - he is maintaining that he absolutely did not do anything they say he did,” Orlow said. “He never took a swing at them. He never was aggressive to them.” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch called the use of force “necessary.”
Cephus - a truck driver from Brooklyn - said that when he arrived at the police station following a trip to the emergency room, he saw the two men who shot the video. They said they had been busted for disorderly conduct. But earlier, they had managed to slip the tape to one of Cephus’ friends..
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The Truth Seeker
July 27, 2008
The United States House of Representatives introduced a resolution Saturday that seeks to label several media outlets ’Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ (SDGT) organizations.
Among those media outlets named in US House Resolution 1308, introduced June 26, were several TV Stations, including Iran’s Press TV and its web site.
Based in Tehran, Press TV is an English language news service funded by the Iranian government, which has stated its intention to cover world news differently from the western dominated global news media.
Many in the Independent Internet news media regularly refer to or use reports from Press TV.
Included among those who refer to Press TV’s Internet news reports are these web sites, What Really Happened and even Google’s own news service.
How much longer before they are accused of assisting “terrorists” by referring to Press TV’s reports?
In response Saturday, Tehran said Washington sought to label Iran’s international English news services as “terrorist” because it wanted to keep international public opinion in the dark.
The resolution, sponsored by Representative Gus Bilirakis, Republican from Florida, is currently being investigated and revised by House committees before general debate on the Congressional floor.
Latest figures show that 53% of Press TV’s viewers are from the United States.
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Richard Syron could take home another $20 million in stock awards this year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Freddie Mac Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Syron pocketed nearly $19.8 million in compensation last year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday, even though the mortgage company’s stock lost half its value in 2007.
If Syron stays at the helm of Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) through the end of next year, he will receive nearly $20 million in stock awards if the board says he has met certain goals. This year, he is guaranteed to get $8.8 million in stock grants regardless of performance.
For 2007, Syron received a $1.2 million salary, a $3.45 million bonus, including $1.25 million to remain at the company, and $771,585 in other compensation. He also received stock and options valued by the company at $14.3 million at the time they were awarded.
The company last year picked up the tab for Syron’s financial planning expenses, car and driver for commuting, home security system, business-related dining and travel costs for his wife and $100,000 in legal fees from negotiating his employment contract.
Syron also received $898,444 from dividends on restricted stock and options he holds.
If Syron resigns or is fired with cause, he will owe the company $1.25 million. But if he is fired without cause, he will pocket $19.1 million.
The Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives’ salary, bonus, incentives, perks, the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year and above-market returns on deferred compensation. The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits and sometimes differ from the totals released by the companies.
The news of Syron’s pay package comes after the government pledged on Sunday to help provide larger credit lines for Freddie and its sister company Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500). The Treasury Department will ask Congress to allow it to buy equity stakes in the two if necessary.
The Federal Reserve also has stepped in and said it would open a special lending option to the pair.
The lenders hold or guarantee $5.3 trillion of mortgage debt, about half the outstanding mortgages in the U.S. Experts agree the sustainability of Freddie and Fannie is key to helping prevent the already beleaguered real estate market from getting worse.
Shares of Freddie rose 87 cents, or 10%, to $9.20 in late afternoon trading. Fannie’s stock rose $2.64, or 24%, to $13.57. 
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WWII era cartoon compares people who don’t pay income taxes to supporting the Nazis
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Priest gets fruit basket with fetus in cheese spread bottle
A man of the cloth and his family got the shock of their lives Monday morning after finding a four-month-old fetus hidden in a basket of fruits.
Monsignor Gerry Santos had just celebrated Mass at the Quiapo Church in Manila around 9 a.m. when he received a basket of fruits from an unknown donor.
“After the mass, pinauwi sa akin ng mother butler. I brought the fruits to my parents’ home because it was our regular lunch and my parents’ house helper showed it to me. It was inside a bottle of Cheez Wiz. Maybe it’s four months old,” Santos said in an interview Monday over the Church-run radio station, Radyo Veritas.
Santos said the aborted baby’s hand and feet were already formed. He said a rosary was also placed inside the cheese spread bottle, which was hidden in a pile of apple and bananas.
He said his family wasn’t able to continue eating lunch after the shocking discovery. His parents were “very disturbed” and “traumatized” by the experience.
After recovering from the trauma, the prelate said his family immediately brought back the fetus to Quiapo Church, “and then I blessed the aborted fetus.”
The fetus was then brought to the La Loma cemetery where it was provided a proper burial.
Humanae Vitae
The unwelcome delivery came as the Church celebrates the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, a Latin word that means “of human life.”
Humanae Vitae is a document written by Pope Paul VI, which was promulgated on July 25, 1968. It was titled “On the Regulation of Birth,” which affirms the Catholic Church’s teachings on abortion, contraception and other issues about human life.
Santos said abortion or killing an unborn baby is “really an abominable crime.” “No one has the right to take away the life of another person,” he said.
The prelate said a person’s life begins “from the moment of conception.” He said a mother should be the first to defend her unborn baby since her womb is the “sanctuary of life.”
He said the shocking incident shows that the Church needs to highlight its pro-life stand. He said the Church should have an undying campaign to educate people, especially women, about the importance of life.
“We have to proclaim life. We serve life and we have to celebrate life,” Santos said.
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U.S. Warns Iran With War Game ’Operation Brimstone’
Press TV
July 22, 2008
The United States is set to lead a joint military exercise in the Atlantic Ocean to show off its combat capabilities as a warning to Iran.
The Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) 08-4 ’Operation Brimstone’ will take place on July 21-31 in North Carolina and off the eastern US coast from Virginia to Florida, involving France, Britain and Brazil.
More than a dozen ships, including the US carrier strike group Theodore Roosevelt and expeditionary strike group Iwo Jima, the French submarine Amethyste, and the British HMS Illustrious Carrier Strike Group, as well as a Brazilian frigate will take part in the 10-day exercise.
Six vessels from the US Norfolk Naval State will play enemy at the exercise.
The drill is aimed at training for operation in shallow coastal waters such as the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the Debkafile, both the Roosevelt and Iwo Jima are scheduled to be deployed in the Middle East in the coming months.
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50% Think U.S. Should Help Israel Attack Iran
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
July 21, 2008
If we are to believe the results of a Rasmussen poll released on July 20, an astounding number of Americans have no problem helping Israel attack Iran. “Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say that if Israel launches an attack against Iran, the United States should help Israel. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 46% believe the United States should do nothing while just 1% believe the U.S. should help Iran.”
Moreover, once again demonstrating a complete ignorance of history and an absence of rational thinking — predictable, considering most Americans receive their historical and political education from the corporate media — 47% “believe it is at least somewhat likely Iran will try to provoke some form of attack before November in an attempt to influence the U.S. elections.”